Essendon coach Matthew Knights says his players' willingness to cop physical punishment for the sake of the team has been inspirational.

Knights confirmed defender Henry Slattery would return for Saturday night's match against Brisbane at Telstra Dome, after recovering from concussion and a minor cheekbone fracture.

Those injuries were caused by an accidental knee in the face from Carlton's Brendan Fevola, when Slattery charged into a pack with the flight of the ball in the round-13 clash at the MCG.

Knights highlighted the Slattery incident, along with a match-saving effort by Adam McPhee. The utility endured a bone-rattling collision with Fremantle's Byron Schammer to win a loose ball in defence in the Bombers' four-point win last round.

"We've had two courageous acts in the last two weeks, which breeds a lot of admiration and confidence within your group," Knights said.

"So (it was) two guys who are really loving their footy and loving their club putting their bodies on the line.

"Those two boys have earnt high praise from their teammates and the coaches."

The mood has also been buoyed by a three-match winning streak, the club's best run of the year.

Their chances of extending that against the Lions were helped by the news that veteran tall defender Dustin Fletcher will be there to help combat Brisbane's key forwards Jonathan Brown and Daniel Bradshaw.

Essendon feared Fletcher had broken his hand against the Dockers, but X-rays round that was not the case.

"He's clear, he's trained pretty well for the last week, so it's probably good to have him available with the two big boys up the other end for Brisbane," Knights said.

But, while things are looking up, following the Bombers' injury-fuelled eight-match losing streak from rounds four to 11, the coach was not so optimistic as to suggest a finals berth was still within reach.

"People were talking wooden spoons three or four weeks ago. The reality is we're two games and percentage out of the eight, so I can't really focus on that," he said.

"We've got to just make sure we're developing our players.

"We think we're making ground slowly with the development of this group and the way we want to play our football, we're getting a better balance consistently now over the last month.

"But we're a long way from the (top eight) action."

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